[Bonny]

Originally Posted by VT2TV

I agree! One thing I am tired of is that so many of the new restaurants in TV are run/managed by the same people, and they seem like the same restaurant. We have had a lot of people tell us that the reason new and totally different restaurants do not open up in TV is that the Morse family is very, very hard to work with, and have a lot of demands for new places. Not to mention that it is extremely expensive to open up a place in TV. Now, I know a lot of people will be angry to see this about the Morse family. I personally do not know if it is true, but have had more than 5 places tell me this, and to not count on many completely new places opening. Again, NOT MY WORDS-just told to me. I sincerely hope this is NOT true. I have nothing against the Morse family, and am very happy to be here in TV. But I really, really would like to see lots of new restaurants-instead of yet another Beef's or Subway, or small oriental place, etc....

I would be curious if these are restaurant owners telling you the Villages is very hard to work for or just people who just like to assume this stuff. I've been here 14 years and know many of the restaurant owners.
Definitely would make a difference if you talk to a successful restaurant owner or one who can't get their act together so they blame the Villages because they have no clue what they are doing.

[coach]

I agree totally with Bonnie. It is so easy to blame others for failure. My opinion is that we have a very low turnover in restaurants compared with national averages of restaurant success.

[My Daily Run]

I spoke to the owner of the olive oil store that opened in Lake Sumter and he has 2 other very successful stores one being in the Winter Garden beautiful artsy commercial area and that is where I spoke to him... he told me that it took him 2 years and more work then most would even think of doing to convince and prove to the developer that he was a successful business...maybe at one time they would allow anyone that wanted to open a business to do so but I think it is not that easy anymore. By the way a business in SS is closing due to a dispute with the developer...just got an email and it states it right in the email.

[billethkid]

There is no problem opening ("working with the developer"), opening, operating a successful restaurant in TV or anyplace else if the owners/operators know what they are doing!!

The failures and those who do not know anything about the process or the business that always blame someone else....usually a baseless rant about what the other guy or developer did or did not do.

If you know what you are doing the developer is easy to work with!!!

[Chi-Town]

If having a strong business plan and a successful history of operations are prerequisites to staying in business I can't figure out why Friday's closed. The food was good, and I had no problems with the service. And people were having fun watching the games and partaking in the special nights like Bingo. Some circumstance must have occurred.

[Bonny]

Originally Posted by My Daily Run

I spoke to the owner of the olive oil store that opened in Lake Sumter and he has 2 other very successful stores one being in the Winter Garden beautiful artsy commercial area and that is where I spoke to him... he told me that it took him 2 years and more work then most would even think of doing to convince and prove to the developer that he was a successful business...maybe at one time they would allow anyone that wanted to open a business to do so but I think it is not that easy anymore. By the way a business in SS is closing due to a dispute with the developer...just got an email and it states it right in the email.

What did the e-mail say ? Which business is it ?

[ilovetv]

Originally Posted by Chi-Town

If having a strong business plan and a successful history of operations are prerequisites to staying in business I can't figure out why Friday's closed. The food was good, and I had no problems with the service. And people were having fun watching the games and partaking in the special nights like Bingo. Some circumstance must have occurred.

I've thought that same thing, except that I did see some sloppiness and apathy in the workers a couple of times. I liked sitting on their patio....still a part of the square but away from the hustle-bustle a bit.

I think that location begs for a bar-restaurant because people are getting off the airport shuttle there, and they recognize TGIFridays and Barnes & Noble. (Newcomers don't know Cody's and maybe aren't ready for the beer and peanut shells on the floor atmosphere yet.) The good thing about chain restaurants is that visitors/tourists know what they're getting.